Dave Ross: “So at this point, what’s the next step here? These are temporary restraining orders, as you point out. This has not been argued extensively on the merits, so what happens now?”

Rob McKenna: “Well, the Department of Justice could choose to appeal the TROs, as they’re called…and they might bet that the court of appeals judges on the East Coast would be more sympathetic to them. And, in fact, the travel order that’s at issue now is narrower, is more tightly drafted, so it would seem to withstand scrutiny.

“But it turns out that the plaintiffs’ arguments are working. All this evidence they’re bringing in of discriminatory intent is persuasive to these judges who are ruling and issuing these TROs that the plaintiffs have a strong likelihood of success on the merits, even before the cases are fully briefed.

“So, I would say that going up to the courts of appeal probably isn’t their best strategy at this point. They probably need to fully brief these cases, bring in more national security evidence, and have a trial on whether or not these orders are actually needed.”